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SYDNEY, Dec 31 AAP

December 31 2012, 06:17AM

Voters are the least pessimistic about their standard of living in the months ahead than at any time since the early months of the Gillard government, a poll has found.

Six months after the start of the carbon tax and following successive official interest rate cuts, the highest number of people since Kevin Rudd was prime minister think their standard of living will stay the same and the lowest number since the first six months of the Gillard government think it will get worse, the Newspoll found.

The big fall in pessimism, despite the global financial uncertainty, is the result of a huge drop in the percentage of coalition supporters who think their standard of living is going to get worse, The Australian reports.

The poll, taken before Treasurer Wayne Swan revealed the budget would not be in surplus, found the proportion of people who thought their standard of living would get worse dropped from 36 per cent in June to 27 per cent, The Australian reported.

Those who thought it would stay the same in the next six months rose eight percentage points to 58 per cent.

There was no overall change among people who think their standard of living will improve, although there was a slight rise among Labor voters.